This piece reflects the views of the author, Jessica Brewer, and not those of Emerald Media Group. It has been edited by the Emerald for grammar and style. Send your columns or submissions about our content or campus issues to [email protected].

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EUGENE, Ore. — Students, faculty and the Eugene public gathered to watch Oregon’s Democratic leaders rally for people to vote. Cold air bit the skin of my cheeks. Loud, excited chatter and puffs of condensed air filled the Erb Memorial Union Amphitheater that Thursday morning, Oct. 27, 2022. We expected a visit from Bernie Sanders—the United States senator for Vermont and inspiring public speaker of progressive values.

A group of my coworkers and I stood up atop a concrete ledge that paved the way for the sidewalk. It placed us just tall enough to see over the crowd. Organizers handed out Tina Kotek t-shirts, student athletes zipped by on scooters and commuters traveled to class eroded the walkway in front of us into a river of liquid bodies.

A curly, brown-haired man walked slower than the pace of the river.

Alex Goodwin carried half-sheet cards and asked nearby students if they were student workers on campus. He offered them union cards and instructed them how to fill out the form, using their full legal name and workforce department. I reached out my hand to get his attention.

I have been wanting to sign a card for a little over a month now. Around that time, bright yellow signs advertising the call for an undergraduate worker union appeared throughout campus.

I asked my coworkers if they wanted to sign a card. It would be a step toward what was impossible for people in our line of work. Resident assistants have yet to form an outside union to voice our opinions and negotiate our contracts. We work in conditions that require us to respond to incidents and residents at a moment’s notice, which can poorly affect our mental and physical health. Yet we still persevere to maintain our housing and food coverage.

Goodwin encouraged us to sign even though our position names us as “student leaders” instead of student workers. Due to Oregon labor laws not defining our position type as an employee, we could be legally barred from taking part in unionizing.

“You do the same amount of work, put in the same amount of effort and deserve the same support from a worker’s union,” Goodwin said, despite the possibility of the state denying our participation in a union.

I signed a card that morning. Goodwin’s enthusiasm opened the door for the unique and rare chance to organize the undergraduate student workers.

Goodwin worked in UO Dining Services for almost five years. He was a server and cashier in the residence halls. His work ethic was recognized by the co-director of dining at the time, and he was recommended to be hired as a student shift leader.

“What the SSL’s actual usage is that they are student workers who are paid only a bit above minimum wage who can be used instead of a classified union protected worker,” Goodwin said.

Goodwin wasn’t alone in this feeling. Ellie White, a Housing Service Center employee and former Dining Services worker, compared working at dining to being in a horror story.

“We were talked down to and treated like children by supervisors. I wasn’t a person. I was a replaceable student worker,” White said. She had ended up quitting and applying to the HSC as a result of mistreatment by supervisors and the impact on her mental health.

Toward the beginning of his employment, Goodwin tried to talk to his supervisors and coworkers about unionizing undergraduate student workers. According to Goodwin, the pay wasn’t sufficient to sustain rent or tuition payments. The respect from supervisors was non-existent, which affected the environment that Goodwin and White had to endure. He remembers being told that unionization for undergraduates wasn’t possible.

Goodwin’s supervisors told him it wasn’t possible for undergraduates to unionize. They prevented the discussion of unionizing, despite classified workers under the local union, Service Employees International Union, being employed at the same workplace.

Goodwin realized it was inevitable for student workers to realize that UO Dining Services wasn’t worth the disrespect and lack of pay they were given.

In October of 2022, the Undergraduate Student Workers Union encouraged Goodwin and other student workers to get involved in their effort to create a “wall-to-wall” union. This would make it so that every UO department that employs undergraduates must negotiate contracts with USWU.  
It would allow union organizers to develop a contract for fair living wages and a more frequent pay period. Unionizing also fosters the platform for greater respect between employees and administrators.

Zoe Green, the USWU’s organizational committee leader for the Housing department and HSC employee, jumped onto the unionizing boat after seeing a USWU table at the EMU one day.  

“Organizing my workplace is something I can totally do, as little, old me,” Green said.

Union organizers collected information and demands from employees at the first USWU meeting on Saturday, Nov. 3, 2022. Increasing the pay rate to a livable wage, changing from a monthly to biweekly pay period and generating respect were some of the top demands on that list.

Sexual misconduct and harassment in the workplace were also discussed. After having worked here for four years, I’ve seen coworkers be sexually harassed by others and reported them in hopes that my peers would be supported, and the perpetrators fired. The length to which the Office of Investigations and Civil Rights Compliance can go is minimal, as they must prove that a violation of the Student Code of Conduct passes a certain threshold.

This can leave alleged perpetrators without punishment and survivors having to continue to work alongside them. Student workers unionizing could offer contracts that enforce protocols, after the OICRC concludes their investigations, to protect survivors and their interests. Additionally, it could lead to better conversations about addressing harmful behavior in the workplace.

Overall, a union would provide “an ability for us to stand up for ourselves,” according to Green. Workers need these jobs as much as they need the education they are trying to pay for.